Strauss-Kahn claims diplomatic immunity in lawsuit

 NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Lawyers for former IMF chief  Dominique Strauss-Kahn asked a judge on Monday to dismiss a  civil suit filed by a hotel maid who accused him of sexual  assault, asserting that the onetime French presidential hopeful  had diplomatic immunity.  
 Strauss-Kahn was cleared of all criminal charges that he  forced Guinean immigrant Nafissatou Diallo to perform oral sex  in a New York luxury suite on May 14, but he still faces the  civil suit plus a separate allegation by a woman in France.  
 The motion to dismiss, filed in New York state Supreme  Court in the Bronx, where the woman lived, also claimed her  “false charges” significantly impaired the International  Monetary Fund’s “ability to serve its critical function … at  a time of worldwide financial crisis and instability.”  
 But the central argument asserted the Frenchman was immune  from such a suit under international law when it was filed in  early August, and lawyers asked the judge to throw the case out  in its entirety.  
 The suit filed by attorney William Taylor, who was also  part of Strauss-Kahn’s criminal defense team, argued that his  position as IMF managing director granted him diplomatic  immunity that extended even after his resignation and until he  was free to return to France.  
 Strauss-Kahn returned home to Paris late last month when  prosecutors decided to abandon their pursuit of sexual assault  and rape charges against him because they had lost faith in  Diallo’s credibility.  
 “This court must dismiss the complaint against defendant  Dominique Strauss-Kahn because, under controlling international  law that all federal and state courts are bound to apply, Mr.  Strauss-Kahn was immune from civil suit,” the motion said.  
 NOT A DIPLOMAT  
 Diallo’s lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, immediately rejected  that argument.  
 “This baseless motion is another desperate attempt to avoid  having to answer for the deplorable acts he committed against  Ms. Diallo,” Thompson wrote in an email. “Strauss-Kahn’s claim  of diplomatic immunity will clearly fail because: (1) he is not  a diplomat; (2) according to his own story he was in New York  on ‘personal’ business; (3) he, not the IMF, paid for his room  at the Sofitel; and (4) he was obviously acting in his personal  capacity when he violently attacked Ms. Diallo.”  
 The scandal blew up in the midst of a growing debt crisis  in Greece and Strauss-Kahn was instrumental in convincing  European policymakers to agree to financing to help Athens. The  crisis has escalated and threatens to slow global growth.  
 A grand jury had indicted Strauss-Kahn, but prosecutors  later asked a judge to drop the criminal charges because they  no longer found the 32-year-old Diallo credible, and the judge  dismissed the case.  
 While her account of the assault remained steadfast, Diallo  told a series of lies about her past and about what happened  immediately after the incident in the $3,000-a-night suite in  New York’s Sofitel hotel, prosecutors said. Despite the  dismissal of criminal charges, the civil suit remains viable  because civil actions require a lesser burden of proof.  
 In a separate motion, his lawyers also demanded that  sections of the lawsuit alleging Strauss-Kahn assaulted other  women be stricken, as well as claims that he and his defense  team “smeared” Diallo’s character.”  
 “The allegations are nothing more than an attempt to  embarrass Mr. Strauss-Kahn, open the door to harassing and  irrelevant discovery, and ultimately instill undue prejudice in  the jury,” the motion said.  
 Strauss-Kahn, 62, had been a favorite to run as the next  president of France before he was hauled from a first-class  seat on a flight from New York to Paris and arrested on May 14.  He resigned from the IMF four days later, his political plans  in tatters.  
 In addition to the civil suit, he still faces a separate  inquiry in France from a writer who says Strauss-Kahn forced  himself on her during a 2003 interview.  
 Strauss-Kahn strongly denied sexual assault from the start  and in a recent interview with French television apologized to  his country for an encounter he called “moral error” that was  consensual. He also vowed to stay out of the Socialist Party’s  2012 election campaign in France.